Author's Note: Boy has it been quite a while since I've posted anything... Regardless, I hope you enjoy this piece I've written! Thanks Bill for the beta. All new mistakes are my own!
Reviews are the author's willpower; the more they get the more they're inspired to write! So, you should review! (hint hint).
And I do not own Chuck... yet...
Chuck vs. the Guessing Game
"You know, Sarah," Chuck started as the two sat at a table in the Orange Orange, accompanied by their lunch of frozen yogurt and raspberries. "I've known you for a little over a year now and I still don't know when your birthday is."
Sarah sighed. "Chuck, you know I can't tell you that."
"I don't see why not! I mean, what have you got to lose? I already know your real name."
"Chuck," Sarah pleaded, willing him to stop.
"Okay, okay."
Chuck took a pause long enough to lead Sarah to believe that the discussion was over and they could continue their lunch in silent peace. The wonderful, peace that as an agent--
"Then at least give me this." --That an agent doesn't get to experience that often.
Sarah rolled her eyes and rested her chin in the palm of her hand, allowing him to go on.
"Starting tomorrow, March twenty-fifth, I will give you something for your birthday everyday until I get it right."
"That's crazy! On a BuyMore salary?"
"Deal?"
"Chuck, I couldn't--"
"Sarah," Chuck took her unoccupied hand and wrapped it up in his. "Please?"
Sarah smiled to herself, wondering how long she thought he'd be able to keep it up. After all, her birthday wasn't that close. She looked up into his eyes and saw the always welcome seriousness that she could never say no to.
"Do I need to pull out the puppy dog eyes, because I'm sure I could manage that." Chuck wagged his eyebrows, suggestively.
In response, Sarah giggled like a teenage girl talking about her crush with some of her girlfriends. "Deal."
Being the mastermind of his plan, Chuck had already planned out and purchased some of the gifts ahead of time. Not only that, but, he had planned on starting out small and getting bigger as time goes on.
For the first day he had decided to start out really basic; flowers and the world's best chocolate. At least according to Ellie... and Morgan.
Not wasting any time, Chuck left for work early enough to drop by Sarah's apartment.
Unlike most other times, Sarah didn't answer the door before he knocked, answering it a decent time after the knocking occurred. Before she fully opened the door, he threw his hands behind his back.
"Chuck!" Sarah answered, surprised and toweling her hair dry. "I didn't know you were coming over. Did you flash on anything?"
"Nope," Chuck laughed as he brought his present out from hiding. "Happy possible birthday, Sarah."
"Thanks, Chuck." Sarah took the flowers and chocolate smiling.
After a slightly awkward pause of standing and staring at each other, Sarah broke the silence.
"How exactly is this supposed to work? As in, how am I supposed to let you know on the day of my birthday that it's my birthday?"
Just that brilliant, Chuck had already thought of this, too. "After I give you the gift and say my line, then you'll give me the code word."
"What's that?"
"The code word is 'Skywalker.'"
Sarah smiled and agreed. The two saw it best to go their separate ways; Sarah finishing her morning routine of getting ready and Chuck driving to work.
Sarah closed the door and leaned on it, breathing in deep the scent of the lilies he brought her, wondering how he knew that such a random flower was her favorite flower.
For the second day of gift giving, Chuck had gotten Sarah stickers that somehow reminded him of her.
One pack of the stickers were girl G.I.s with decent sized guns. The other two packs were describing words and "love" ones. Chuck was initially hesitant to buy the "love" stickers because the pack not only came with hearts but it also had a few stickers of kids kissing; a blond girl and a curly brown haired boy to be exact. But, he got them anyways knowing that the gift wouldn't be complete without heart stickers.
Even though it wasn't as necessity for this gift, Chuck showed up at her apartment door on his way to work, again.
"Happy possible birthday, Sarah." Chuck greeted, holding out the small gift bag.
"Thanks." Sarah replied, taking the bag in her hand, not knowing what to do with it.
"Open it!" Chuck laughed as he watched oblivious Sarah.
"Oh. Okay."
Sarah opened the bag and took the tissue paper out. Not looking, she reached her hand in the bag and pulled out the three packs of stickers. She looked at all three packs, hesitating a bit when she saw the pack with the hearts and kissing people.
"Turn them over." Chuck instructed and Sarah obeyed.
On the back of each sticker pack, Chuck wrote a note or explanation. Chuck told her how the GI girl stickers and the word stickers were Sarah; from the strong ladies with the guns to all the wonderful words that describe her. On the back of the "love" sticker pack, Chuck wrote that a gift of stickers wouldn't be complete without heart stickers, not commenting on the kissing people.
"Wow, you went all out." Sarah teased as she put the stickers back in the bag.
"Well, the gift bag may have been a bit much, but what girl doesn't love stickers?"
Sarah looked from him to the present in her hands. "Certainly not me!" Sarah answered looking back at Chuck. "I love them." she added, softly, making it hard for Chuck to hear.
But he heard it.
Even super secret spies like stickers. Awesome.
On the ninth day of trying to figure out her birthday, Chuck had a more sentimental gift. He'd moved on for the time being from stickers and candy, more childish gifts, to the teenage years.
A mix CD, just like in the old days, is what he spent hours working on. Not only had he tried to search for songs that she might like, but he also tried to pick out songs with meaning. Not to go completely after her heart so early on in this gift game, but enough so she subtly got the hint.
That was, after all, the point of mix-tapes.
He went through Ellie's iPod and his, a total of way too many songs to fathom. He put some feminine songs on there such as the basics of Cindy Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and Nat King Cole's L.O.V.E. For laughs, he added the song Because I'm Awesome by the Dollyrots.
He added Stolen by Dashboard Confessional, which Ellie claimed every girl loves-- Which made Chuck start to think that Ellie either knew woman too well, or women happen to love everything--and wanted to have sung to them.
In addition to all the girly songs he put on there, he added some ACDC, Metallica, Queen, among others.
He hand wrote the song list on a piece of paper for the front of the CD case and wrote 'Your Birthday Mix' in sharpie on the CD.
That morning, Chuck went to her apartment like any other morning, CD complete with a bow in hand.
He knocked a few times and waited for her to come; she was moving slower this morning.
"Good morning, sleepy head." Chuck greeted as he walked into her apartment after she opened the door, eyes shut and hair frizzy.
"Chuck," She begged as she made her way back to bed. "We work the afternoon shift today. It's only--" Sarah looked at her hated alarm clock and gave it a much deserved dirty look. "Eight AM."
"Oh no you don't." Chuck grabbed her by the waist before she plunged back under her covers. "Get dressed. Come on, we're going for a drive."
In the fifteen minutes it took Sarah to get ready, Chuck made coffee and a bagel for the two of them.
Looking around her apartment, he saw the picture of the two of them that previously had a pencil thrown at it. The pencil was now taken out and a heart sticker was put on the frame.
Chuck picked the frame up and smiled, his back turned to the bathroom. When he heard the door open, he was startled, quickly throwing the picture back down, and turned around with a guilty look on his face.
Sarah walked out of the bathroom looking much more awake and smiling when the aroma of coffee reached her.
Looking as beautiful as ever, Chuck thought to himself as he smiled back.
"Mmmm..." She mumbled before taking a long sip of coffee. "You know me so well."
Slowly enough, they made it to Sarah's Porsche. Chuck didn't even think of asking to drive, letting Sarah take her seat behind the wheel.
"Where to?" She asked as the engine purred.
"Anywhere." Chuck popped in the CD. "Happy possible birthday, Sarah." he added in right before the music blasted.
By the end of the CD and drive, both Chuck and Sarah's voiced were raspy from the laughter and screeching they called singing.
One month after the first day and Chuck had showered her with his favorite comic books and cutlery knifes (because Chuck was sure that cutting her food with her "agent knives" as he referred to them as, was bound to be unsanitary) and even her own Wii controller which Morgan, of all people, had insisted Chuck get for her.
Today was another one of the more childish, but fun, gifts. It was a beautiful Saturday, the sun out but not too hot; the perfect day to go to the park.
After stopping at her apartment to pick her up, Chuck drove to a park with a blindfolded Sarah. Carefully guiding her he walked her over to a little picnic he had set up.
When he un-blindfolded her, Sarah blinked her eyes to re-adjust to the sunlight and was greeted with the sight of a small red blanket with a picnic basket, flowers and two wrapped gifts.
"You didn't have to do all this for me." Sarah blushed.
"Ah, but I wanted to." Was Chuck's cunning reply.
Peacefully, the two ate their sandwiches and enjoyed each others company. When the time came, Chuck handed her the two boxes to open. Sarah opened them with a smile on her face which broke out into a laugh when she saw the gift.
"A water gun? And a...?" Sarah waved the four (two for her, two for him) guns in the air.
"A marshmallow gun. You pump it up and it shoots marshmallows." Chuck grabbed the guns and loaded them with water and marshmallows. "I know they're not real guns, but I figured maybe we could have some fun."
Chuck took advantage of his position with all four guns and shot her with a marshmallow.
"Hey!" She yelled in protest. "Not fair!"
"Who said anything about fair?"
On the mark of the two month anniversary of when they started the game, Chuck came prepared with an extra special gift.
He had driven all the way to Hollywood Boulevard to the Build-A-Bear next to the Chinese Grumman's theater and made Sarah a bear.
It was a soft, light tan bear with a small pink nose and a grin, dressed in an orange tank, white pants, blue bows around the ears and mini converse that Chuck later painted orange with blue shoe laces. Chuck had fluffed her up so she was firm enough, but huggable and soft, just like Sarah.
At the computers, he even named her Sarah, leaving her last name blank. He put in 'unknown' for the birthday of the bear, wanting it to be Sarah's exact birthday. If she wanted, she could fill in the true birth date later.
As he stood up from the computer, ready to go check-out, a glittery baby blue dress sparkled in the corner of his eye. He went over it to inspect it and found it perfect for Sarah Bear. He found a pair of silver glittery shoes and a small white purse and put them in the house box along with the uncompleted birth certificate.
That night he surprised Sarah at her apartment with a few soft knocks. Sarah had a feeling it'd be him, seeing as she hadn't received a present for that day just yet. Grinning ear to ear, Sarah opened the door, but wasn't greeted by Chuck...
Instead she was greeted by Sarah the Bear tilting side to side, and the arm doing the motion. Sarah opened the door further and looked around the door frame where the arm holding the bear was attached to a ridiculously handsome man.
"You are such a dork." She jokingly scoffed, pulling him into the apartment.
Practically flying into the apartment, Chuck grabbed the house box and closed the door behind him.
"Happy maybe birthday, Sarah." Chuck handed Sarah the bear. Instinctively, she hugged the bear and swayed side to side. Ending the bear moment, Sarah looked up to Chuck as she rested her head on the bear's head, and smiled.
"I love it!" She exclaimed and shared the love, hugging Chuck.
"Yeah?" Chuck moved to her bed. "I made it."
Sarah's eyes widened. "Really? How? Where?"
"At Build-A-Bear, silly." Chuck laughed.
Sarah sat on the bed, one leg under the other, and turned to look at him. She had a puzzled look on her face. "Huh?" She asked.
"You've never heard of Build-A-Bear?" Chuck questioned in surprise. Who hasn't heard of Build-A-Bear?
"Nope. What is it?"
Chuck gave her a crazy look. "Only one of the best places EVER! You go and pick out a bear and stuff it and give it a heart and dress it up and stuff." Chuck pulled the other stuff out of the box. "See?"
Sarah looked at the birth certificate. She took note of the lack of the last name and the empty birthday line. Bartowski, she unconsciously filled into the empty last name slot. I like the ring to that, she added.
Mentally, she shook herself to get her out of the pleasant reverie. "You'll have to take me sometime."
"I will."
Sarah looked at him, heart open. "Promise?"
Chuck caught it. "I promise."
Now she couldn't ever leave without him taking her. Sounded like a date.
Chuck showed her the other clothes and she smiled.
Sarah looked down at the bear in her lap and couldn't help but get a bit teary eyed. What would she do without this wonderful man next to her? What would she do without her knees going weak from the simplicity of his touch. Sarah wasn't sure she wanted to find out.
It had been two weeks since Chuck gave her the Sarah bear. He had since then showered her in lotion, nail polish, bath salts and even rubber ducks. They were past, small gifts that meant a lot, but today's gift was different. A pure, silver, heart necklace from Tiffany's. Sure, Tiffany's was expensive, but when Ellie heard Chuck was buying Sarah a necklace she sped to the closest location where a friend of hers owed her a favor or two.
Chuck gratefully accepted Ellie's help, gave her a kiss on the cheek and practically floated to work late that afternoon.
"Sarah!" Chuck shouted from across the parking lot as he spotted her about to walk into the Orange Orange. Quickly he jogged over to her with his present.
"Hey," She greeted.
"Hey. Sorry I didn't have time to give you this this morning. I was running late." Chuck handed her the card and box that was in his hands.
Sarah gave him a smile and turned her attention to the stuff in hand. After two and a half months of the game Sarah had grown accustomed, almost dependent, on the gifts she got from Chuck.
Sarah opened the card and didn't even read it before she burst into tears of laughter. Chuck had got one of those cards where you record your own sound and when it opens, it plays it. Being the very observant man he is, Chuck had caught Sarah off guard a few times in the secret base humming a specific song from the mix CD he made her while she was looking through files and what not. So, quite fittingly, Chuck sang, pretty darn well, L.O.V.E. into the card and that was what played when she opened it.
"What's so funny?" Chuck asked, confused.
Sarah shook her head, laughing. "Nothing, nothing." She sniffled, trying to contained the laughter. "It's just that that is something that only you would do."
After reading the card, Sarah took her first look at the other item in her hands. The second she saw the green box she flipped. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped in astonishment.
Just as excited as any other girl would be, Sarah threw off the top of the rectangular box like a little kid at Christmas... or a girl with a box from Tiffany's in her hand. She stared in awe of the beautiful silver heart with a little mini one on top of it, moving it so it glimmered in the sunlight.
"Oh my gosh, Chuck! It's beautiful!" She said as she bounced up and down.
Chuck, on the other hand, was filled with glee just from the response he got. While he never thought Sarah could get so excited over something like this, he didn't think he could get any happier at the moment.
"Here," Chuck reached out and took the heart pendant from the box. "Let me put it on."
Chuck repositioned his body so he was behind her and Sarah lifted up her hair. Chuck stood close--close enough to take in the scent of her shampoo, as he slowly, as to savor the moment, clasped the necklace onto her neck.
In her ear, he whispered, "Happy possible birthday, Sarah."
Once again, Chuck blindfolded Sarah and drove her to the next birthday surprise destination, only a week after the necklace. The speakers were blasting the mix CD that he had made and Sarah, after being instructed by Chuck, had brought Sarah the bear along. Being his normal, goofy ol' self, Chuck put the bear in the back seat, buckling her in for her safety.
Sarah had begged and begged throughout the duration of the drive to know where they were going, but Chuck refused to give in. Sarah even threatened him by saying that if he didn't tell her, she'd make sure another ninja would come to his house and break his beloved computer, but Chuck still didn't give in.
Instead, he responded by saying the wait was worth it; she'd forget all about the threat once they got there.
And he was right. At first when he pulled of her mask and she was in some worn down parking garage, she was not thrilled and was about to threaten him again, but he shut her up by pulling her by the wrist out to the main street where their destination was. Holding the bear's hand and Sarah's hand, Chuck led Sarah up the stairs of the mall to the Build-A-Bear Workshop.
By the look on her face, Chuck wasn't sure if she was happier about the Tiffany's necklace, which she happened to never take off now a days, or the Build-A-Bear trip.
This time, Sarah dragged Chuck into the store and was overwhelmed by the choices. She carefully inspected each animal and bear, trying to find the perfect one. The second her eyes landed on the brown monkey with soft, brown curls all over, she fell in love.
"This is the one." She said as she picked him up from the shelf.
The proceeded to the stuffing section where Sarah handed over her monkey, not fully trusting the lady with him.
"Pick a heart." The lady prompted. Sarah chose a shiny red heart and held it in her hands. "You're boyfriend too."
Chuck blushed and chose a shiny white one. The lady told them to rub it in their hands for life, jump up and down to give it joy, and kiss it to give it love.
The first time Chuck had made a bear, the one for Sarah, he felt totally stupid in doing all the rituals for the heart around a bunch of little kids; but this time, being with Sarah, and having the whole store to themselves, Chuck was able to enjoy it just as much as Sarah was, and she seemed to be having the best time of her life.
"Now, you kiss hers, and you kiss his, so the bear is filled with your true love." The lady out of the blue said.
They both held out their hearts to the other and they kissed them.
"Good. Now make a wish and stuff them in right here." The lady stopped stuffing the monkey and watched as they made a wish. At the same time, they put their hearts in the monkey and watched as the lady sewed him up.
"Now give him a hug and make sure he's just right."
Sarah hugged the monkey tight and looked at Chuck. "Perfect."
They moved over to the air bath section where the two brushed the newly made monkey and fluffed his perfect zoo-shaped curls. Sarah searched all the hangers and buckets for the perfect outfit of a white shirt, gray tie, black pants and converse. Once she was satisfied with his looks, they continued on to the computer section. Chuck held Sarah bear as Sarah filled in all the information. She named him Chuck Beartowski, which was fitting due to his outfit and curls. She filled in the birthday portion as Chuck's birthday and pressed finished.
They took the two bears out for lunch and by the time they were back in the car, Sarah was pooped. Right before she dozed off in contentment, Chuck whispered "Happy possible birthday, Sarah."
Less than a week had gone by since their trip to the Hollywood Build-A-Bear and the gift exchange was coming to and end. Chuck just didn't know it yet.
He wasn't out of ideas for gifts, he still had plenty more, but when he heard Sarah call in sick for work, Chuck took the day off himself to go over and spend it with her. Being an agent, he doubted being sick was something that happened all that often, so he knew that she had to be dreading it.
To ameliorate her unfortunate situation, Chuck prepared a pot of his homemade chicken noodle soup, grabbed a movie and headed over to her apartment.
Having been over there as often as he had recently, Chuck knocked softly a few times, in case she was sleeping, and let himself in.
"Chuck?" Sarah called from her bed, sounding congested. Chuck set the pot of soup and the bag he brought down in the kitchen and made his way to the bedroom.
The sight was anything but joyous. Sarah was surrounded by used tissues and had her covers up to her chin. Her face was pale, gray even, and her nose was bright red. Her eyes were bloodshot and her hair was a pigsty. To say the least, she looked miserable. Even her two stuffed animals, who accompanied her on the bed, were looking grim.
"Hey," he said as he sat on the edge of the bed by her head. He put a hand to her sweaty head. "Feels like you have a fever." Sarah sneezed. "And, by the looks of it, a cold."
Sarah simply closed her eyes and leaned into his touch.
"I brought some soup and a movie and some medicine." He informed as he made his way back to the kitchen. "Would you like some?" He called out when he wasn't visible anymore. Standing on one leg, he craned his neck around the corner to see Sarah whispering yes and nodding her head. He prepared them each a bowl of the soup, grabbed the movie, and brought her the cold medicine accompanied by bottled water.
He helped her eat the soup as they watched The Notebook. It was the ultimate chick-flick, but even Chuck liked it. He even got a bit teary eyed at the end.
"What a sad movie." Sarah commented at the end of the movie as she sat up from her warm position on Chuck's chest. Chuck supported her swaying stature, putting a hand on her back to keep her from falling.
Chuck looked at Sarah through her droopy, sick eyes and something caught his attention. Taking her instructions from before, Chuck moved a strand of her blond locks behind her ear. He looked from her lips back to her eyes.
Sarah couldn't tell if it was the butterflies in her stomach or being sick, but she got that nervous, but exhilarating feeling as his mouth moved closer and closer to hers. Not thinking of being sick, Sarah's lips met his in the kiss they had both been waiting for since that moment in the secret lair when it almost happened, but didn't.
Before either of them could stop themselves, their mouths opened, deepening the kiss. Sarah's nose started to tickle and she felt a sneeze coming on. In order to avoid one heck of a physically uncomfortable position, she quickly tore her lips from his and sneezed into her shoulder.
Chuck cleared his throat as both faces turned bright red with awkwardness.
"I-" Sarah started, but Chuck cut her off.
"No worries. I never get sick."
Two days later and Chuck was exactly what he said he never was; sick. Kissing Sarah may have been one of the most fantastically glorious things he has ever experienced, but this time around it got him sick.
He had been fine the day after, but the day after that he was bed stricken, too weak to move. He wasn't eating, despite Ellie's doctoral order to, and the only thing he was capable to keep down was water, and even that was hard.
Sarah felt horrible when she found out he was sick. Of course, she was now in perfect health, making it her turn to go back to taking care of him. Or at least being there with him so he wasn't so miserable.
Quietly, as not to wake him, Sarah slipped into his room via the Morgan Door, stuffed animals in tow.
Chuck was indeed sleeping, but when the sunlight flooded into his room, he awoke from his sacred slumber.
"Sarah?" Chuck asked, shading his eyes from the sunlight with his hand, his voice raspy and groggy, a mixture of sickness and having just woken up. "What are you doing here?"
Sarah didn't answer. Instead she gently lowered herself into bed with Chuck, resting her head on his shoulder.
Finally, she spoke. "We wanted to come see if you were okay." Sarah put the stuffed animals on Chuck's stomach.
"Thanks." he replied.
After a few moments of peaceful silence, Sarah spoke again. "So, no birthday present today?" She attemptively jokes, trying to lighten the mood.
Chuck's eyes widen in surprise. He forgot! The one day he doesn't have a present ready is the day he's sick.
Being the stubborn man he is, he tried to sit up from the bed and grabbed his keys from his nightstand. Unfortunately for him, Sarah was quicker and pounced on him, placing her body fully on top of his so he couldn't move.
"Chuck Bartowski, you are one unlucky man; today is my birthday, Skywalker."
Once again, Chuck tries to get up but finds it impossible with Sarah on top of him. He squirms, determined to get her something, but she stops him with a kiss, making his actions stultifying.
Finally, he gives in, and stops moving. Sarah delicately removes her lips from his and lays back down on his chest.
"I'm sorry I couldn't get you a gift." He apologizes, the disappointment evident in his voice.
"Chuck Bartowski, the best gift you could ever get me is yourself." Sarah raises her head once more to look him in his bloodshot-brown eyes. "You take care of me when I'm sick, you constantly make me laugh, you truly care about me. You make me coffee, as if you just knew I needed it, and you constantly remind me that I can trust someone, and how to live. I need you and appreciate you more than you could ever think. I don't need anything else other than you for my birthday, and it's exactly what you've given me."
Sarah ran her fingers through his hair as she whispered "I love you, Chuck."
"And I love you, Sarah." Chuck replied, fulfilling his goal from when he first started the deal; to capture her heart. The only thing he didn't know was that he had already had it, as she had already had his.
Mentally, Chuck stored the date in his memory. June twenty-second, Chuck said to himself, making a date on his mind's calendar, Sarah's birthday.